Hi Brian

Very clever of what you did, Brian. I hope it works out the way you

expected. Still some holes in the scheme, maybe I'll write you

privately about it. Very clever!!

It's clever allright. I hope it works too (seems like it is). Makes for a much more enjoyable experience here.

Good to see this change. Now there will be fewer rants i hope.

hi. what does this thread relate to? sorry, i know - curiosity killed the cat...

I guess he refers to the fact that ranking on the Top Rated Photos' page now by default is by the Average instead of the Ratings. Isn't it, Sandy?

<P>Michele, that's correct. I also think that Brian should hide all the "raters" <U><b>except </u></b> for the fly-bys who give out 1,2 and 7. In other words, if somebody intnetionally try to low ball your rating or peers trying to hype up yours, everyone can see. Outside of that, ratings from 3-6 can be anonymous Joe.

I like to know who is rating me. That is part of the Community. Unfortunately, some abuse it but that is not a reason to penalize everyone else. I know, I know...this has all been said before. How well I know! Regards.

The Average Rating was originally the default ranking. I changed it to Number of Ratings some time ago in order to counter mate raters and revenge raters. Mate raters could only help a photo in the default ranking by +1. And revenge raters were also helping a photo in the default ranking by rating it. When I changed it, various people called the change "brilliant", etc. I wasn't under any illusions about the brilliance of that change, and I don't think changing it back is any more brilliant than the first change.

 

With the other recent changes, the raters have become somewhat anonymous and the average rating is dropping. Perhaps this means that mate-rating is on the decline since the mate-raters' little Christmas presents don't have name tags. Also perhaps more people are willing to venture a lower rating without fear of retaliation. So, it seems desirable to return to showing the photos with the highest averages. Also, while I don't have anything against nudes, I didn't want them to dominate the default TRP page just because they have a particularly enthusiastic audience which results in them getting a lot of ratings, but not necessarily a high average.

 

Anyway, I am sure this is not the last move I will be making. Perhaps the only real way to have a system that works is to keep changing the rules so that nobody can ever think he knows how to work the system. If people stop trying to figure out how to get their photos into the TRP, and just post good photos, and participate, I think it will be better. I want the best photos to be prominent, which is not necessarily the same as the photos of the folks who are the best at working the system. Unfortunately, most people like to have a nice stable system that they can understand, so changing it all the time to keep those gaming the system off balance is not likely to be something that most people will like.

<P>Hi Dr. Brian,

 

<P>I do realize that there is no such thing as a "perfect" system. All that we can do is try to make it more tedious and, hopefully, more difficult for those people to try to do what they wanted to do, and that is - to cheat.

 

<P>As for the mate ratings and retaliations, they will find a way to get around this eventually, too. Just the other day, my good friend, who likes me a lot, <B>A. Z</B>.andy, just gave me a round of low ratings. Not that I care, it is only these continuous childish acts that we will just have to learn to accept and tolerate. The last time, I simply deleted all the photos he had rated.:-D

 

<P>Still, we <U>appreciate</U> your thinking and thoughts behind the decision. Yes, we may see another round of changes, but such is our world.

 

<P>Have a nice day and thanks for your efforts and hard work.

 

<P>Yours/Sandy :-))

I LOVE the idea of turning the identity of raters on and off. What fun.

 

I also like the idea of automatically sending e-mail to every member monthly. If no response in 30 or 60 days, than his/her membership AND ratings are deleted - automatically. This would really cut down on all the knuckleheads that get multiple addresses just for rating. Being the comuter genius that you are, can this be an automatic function? Think of the problems this could solve (maybe).

Periodic mailings forcing response is a poor idea because many peoples' junkmail filters

will toss their mail, or they'll ignore the mail as spam ... and you'll be left with more

pissed-off users than ever, some of whom will abandon the site, and a ton of others

whose emails you'll have to read and whose accounts you'll have to reinstate.

 

Thank god for comuter geniuses [sic].

I am in agreement with you Bailey (for once). This site's comuter geniuses would not implement this. Regards.

Thank God for spel chek.

But I thought Brian worked from home ?

Points well taken Bailey. I concur. Bad idea on my part.

Oh, nope not a commuter genius. Just a "Make Big Bucks working from Home on the Internet!", uh, genius.

Right, genius.